"Come on already!" Olivia shouts.
"I'm scared," Lily says, quivering uncontrollably.
"Oh please, Lily! Nothing's gonna happen. Don't be such a coward."
"It's just a game," Luke laughs.
"It's all made up, Lily. It's fake. Nothing's gonna happen to you," Olivia approaches Lily then attempts to hold her quivering hands as she retreats backwards.
"What's made up?" asks Logan.
"The movie we watched last time," Olivia sighs.
"Wait, she's scared of the freaking movie?" Luke asks in a I-don't-need-an-answer-because-I-already-know-it way, then hysterically laughs as he falls back to his chair. He grabs his beer and drinks from it.
"It's just that..." Lily tries to speak.
"Truth or dare?" Logan interrupts her. She lifts her frightened eyes up slowly and stares at Logan, tears filling up in her eyes. "Truth or dare?" Logan repeats his question in a harsher tone.
"Dare," Lily responds.
"I dare you to go into that room," Logan says and lifts up his finger to point at a door. For the first time since their arrival, Lily lifts up her eyes and follows Logan's finger right to where he's pointing when she hears Luke mutter "Dope!"
For the first time, perceiving the place they're in. Dark and dull. Dirty and broken. Empty.
They're sitting in a circular room in an abandoned place, with a single dim light bulb dangling from a faraway above triangular ceiling. On the walls, five doors occupy them. Except for one. One uncanny unlike door.
It's a pale green wooden door full of scratches and cracks. In the middle of the door, a single X is drawn in black. "You want me to go in there?" Lily asks Logan, half expecting for an answer. Luke giggles, and Logan just nods. "No."
"It's the rules, sweetheart," Luke says.
"Lily, what's the worst that could happen?" Olivia whispers to Lily.
"Everything!" Lily shouts. "There is a literal X on the door. That means I shouldn't go in there, and that doesn't make me a coward okay?" Lily stands up frustrated, but before she can walk away, Logan stands up and kicks his chair scaring everyone in the room. He runs directly to Lily and grabs her arm aggressively then walks her towards the door. "What are you doing?" Lily shouts as she attempts to get away from him. She fails. He holds her tighter.
"Logan," Olivia calls his name as Luke's hysterical laughs echo in the room.
"You are no less than a coward," Logan says bleakly. When they reach the door, he opens it and pushes Lily inside making her fall down to her knees. She looks back at Logan crying while her knee bleeds.
Logan looks at her one last time with a firm expression on his face and closes the door violently. Lily struggles to stand up as she feels a rush of numbness down her left leg. She hurries to open the door, but can't. It's locked, but as Lily tries to recall there wasn't a keyhole on the door, just the handle. She looks back down at the handle, and what she sees assures her of the impossible. No keyhole.
The only logical reason Lily can think of, is Logan on the other side of the door gripping tight on the handle so she can't get out.
"Logan!" Lily shouts. "Open the door. Open the door now!" Lily yells as she rolls the handle harshly. "This is not funny anymore Logan. I'm going to make you pay for this, okay? You'll regret it!" Lily starts to cry again as the pain in her knee gets stronger.
In an instant, a sound comes from the other side of the dark room she's in. Lily hurls up to her feet and reaches for her pocket. Reaches for her phone that isn't there. She recalls her putting it in her purse. The purse that must have fallen from her arm when Logan pulled her aggressively into this place. The place that blinds Lily's sight.
Fear builds up inside of her. She turns back to the door and knocks softly.
"Olivia?" she calls desperately. "I'm scared. Please. Get me out of here." And the door opens.
Slowly.
She gets out and a feeling of betrayal washes over her. They're not here. They left her. Here. Alone. Afraid. Then, a new feeling of alarm washes over her as she realizes the room she's in. The same exact room they were in, but different.
She looks at the walls that had five doors but now, have none. Except for the one behind her. The one she just left. She turns around cautiously, and there's the same door Logan made her fall into, except it is black with no scratches. A brand new modern door with a golden handle, and a keyhole.
How is that possible? She questions.
She calls onto Olivia once again but receives no response.
She goes back to the only door present in the room and opens it again. As she enters in carefully, two things happen at the same time. The lights go on, and the door behind her slams and disappears leaving Lily enclosed in a room of four large walls.
She falls onto her knees as blood stain her jeans, and cries.
After a moment of silence, screams fill the room. Lily gets up and stands on her injured leg and starts looking around at the empty room as the screams get louder and louder. Olivia's screams, then Luke's screams, then Logan's scream that makes it stop. She looks at the corner of the room and sees a shadow approaching the light.
A woman appears. A woman Lily recognizes. A woman with hair like Lily's. A woman Lily has said goodbye to a long time ago. A woman Lily stood above her grave and whose funeral she spoke at.
"Mom?" she calls out as a shiver runs down her spine, and the room starts shaking making her world flip upside down. An illusion builds inside her head. Voices and images fill her mind. Fear and pain wash over her heart breaking her surrender and making her vulnerable. She holds tight onto hope as reality fades away and becomes a part of – only – the impossible.
